Introducing Legal Clinics in Olomouc, Czech Republic

Abstract

In the Czech Republic, clinical legal education is not very developed. It does not fit into the traditional view of legal education, which itself is based mainly on an Austrian and German legal tradition which emphasizes legal positivism, legal history and a lecture style of lessons. The university environment in the Czech Republic is very conservative. Open minded teachers (mostly young assistants) have very little space for their own creativity during the lessons. Most of the Czech law teachers do not have any training in teaching methodology. Moreover the general attitude is that there is no special need for practical courses because “the students will receive their practical training once they are in practice after finishing the law school”. These attitudes result in very sceptical approach to the methodology of teaching, if we can speak about any methodology at all. To put it simply, the content of the lecture is seen as more important than the way the content is taught.